Life Is Like A Box Of Chocolates
by Munsje
Summary: A daughter of a Death Eater and the niece of Professor Umbridge are both in for a lot of trouble and adventure as they enter their first year at Hogwarts. RR please
1. Grandmothers And Sorting

Life is like a box of chocolates  
_Written by Munsje_

A/N:I should warn you;there spoilers in here for the fifth book! This was just a little idea I got after reading it. It takes place within the fifth book, but it does not involve Harry, Ron or Hermione, not even the Order of Phoenix. It's about a group of young girls going to their first year to Hogwarts. One of them is related to the Death Eater Avery, and one of them is related to none other than professor Umbridge. So, sit back and enjoy ;)

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**Chapter 1** **- Grandmothers and Sorting**

_"Mummy?" asked a young girl, while her mother was putting on her pajama's, "where's daddy?"  
The woman froze. "What do you mean?" she demanded.  
"My friends asked me if I had a daddy..."  
"And what did you tell them?" the woman asked, trying to sound friendly, but failing miserably.  
"I told 'm I didn't have one," the girl looked at her mother. "And they said they all had one."  
She knew that her daughter now wanted an explanation, but decided against it, "you know, Cassie, not _all_ children have fathers. And unfortunately, your one of them." She patted Cassie on the back, "now, it's time for you to go to sleep."_

Now eight years later, at the age of eleven, Cassie was sitting in the train to Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, where she was about to start her first year. She yawned, resting her head against the window and once again wondered why her mother had never wanted to tell her about her father, he couldn't have bin _that_ bad - right? She looked at her reflection in the mirror, she didn't look like her mother at all, with her curly, dark-brown hair that reached to her shoulders, her cold grey eyes and long, pointy nose. Maybe she took after her dad...  
"Can I sit here?" someone asked. Cassie looked up, a girl of about her age was standing in the open doorway to her compartment, and without waiting for an answer, she sat down across Cassie. She had short, blond hair, big, blue eyes and her nose was slightly crooked. She sighed heavily, "I swear I'll kill my mother someday."  
Cassie raised her eyebrows and decided not to reply.  
"I mean, come on! I warned her last night, too. '_Mum, don't forget I've got to be at Kings Cross at eleven o'clock_', and no she wouldn't forget, of course she wouldn't!" The girl said sarcastically, and rolled her eyes, "Parents... Anyways, I'm Terry." She held out her hand, "Terry Umbridge."  
"Cassandra Avery," Cassie said, shaking Terry's hand. "So... are you also in your first year?"  
Terry nodded and grinned excitedly when the train started to move, "I can't _ wait_ to get there! I was _so_ surprised when the letter arrived, I never knew I was a witch, you know. I knew there was a possibility, 'cause my grandmother on my mother's side was one, but both of my parents are Muggles, so I always assumed I was one too. What about your parents?" She added eagerly.  
"My mum's a witch," Cassie said and left it at that. She was glad that Terry did not ask her if her father was a wizard.  
"D'you know about Quidditch?" Terry said, and her grin broadened.  
"Yeah," Cassie said dryly, she didn't care much about Quidditch, as a matter of fact; she found it boring. A couple of people on broomsticks trying to get a ball to a hoop, being molested by some kind of iron ball... she really didn't understand what everyone found so interesting about it.  
"My grandmother was the chaser of Hufflepuff," Terry said proudly.  
"Really?" Cassie asked, not at all impressed. Unfortunately, Terry didn't seem to notice and started to tell a whole lot about her grandmother and her time at Hogwarts, that she was even asked to play at Wimbourne Wasps but turned the offer down to marry with her grandfather, that she still played Quidditch every once in a while in some kind of senior-team and a whole lot more.  
"... And my aunt - Dolores Umbridge," Terry said enthusiastically, "is going to teach us Defense Against The Dark Arts this year. Grandma was _so_ proud when she heard that Aunt Dolores would be a teacher at Hogwarts and was _ finally_ leaving the Ministry. She says that the Ministry..."  
Cassie politely nodded every now and than, but truthfully she wasn't paying any attention to what the girl across her was saying. An hour past, and still Terry was talking on and on about her family. And finally, Cassie decided that she had enough. "Do you know," she said, when Terry was catching her breath, "which House you're going to be in?"  
"Oh no," Terry said, shaking her head, "of course I don't! Only the Sorting Hat..."  
"Come on," Cassie urged, "you must have an _idea_."  
"Well... Tom - you know, my older brother that I was just telling about - is in Gryffindor, so I might be placed in the same house. But than again, my grandmother was in Hufflepuff, so that..."  
"I think I'll be in Ravenclaw," Cassie said quickly, before Terry would start an entirely new story about her grandmother.  
"Ravenclaw?" Terry frowned, "who knows, who knows..."

"... Now, my grandmother always said that aunt Dolores was a bit power-hungry," Terry said, while biting the head of the Chocolate Frog that she just bought. "You know, always trying to boss everyone around. She had - and still has, mind you - very few friends, but Dolores always says that friends are only good to get in your way. Says they distract you of your work. Grandma says that this is exactly the reason while she's still single, that and because she looks like grandpa."  
"And what's wrong with that?" Cassie asked, with raised eyebrows.  
"You see, grandma only married him because he's rich," Terry said simply, "she was really poor herself, having a lousy job at some kind of shop in Diagon Alley that closed years ago, because it didn't make enough money. Anyways, she met him once at some kind of dance of her parents, who were Muggles and were a good friend of grandpa's father. He was funny and charming and, as she said it, she wasn't getting any younger either and it was time for her to start a family. So three weeks later, they were married."  
"But if he was charming and funny..."  
"My grandmother always says 'If you haven't got the looks, you've got to have the personality'." Terry explained, "Grandpa was really nice, well, at least, that's what I've heard, I've never met him, because he died two months before I was born. But anyways, he wasn't pretty. He always reminded grandma of a toad." She smiled shortly, "grandma, as she said it, had the looks. She never had to be friendly, or nice, because everyone would except her anyway. Aunt Dolores always worshipped her, so naturally, she started to act just like her."  
"So in other words," Cassie said slowly, "we're going to have a teacher who looks like a toad and is going to boss us around for the entire year?"  
"Exactly," Terry said with a grin.  
Cassie sighed heavily, great. Just great. She just couldn't wait to get to Hogwarts...  
"But she's really not that bad. She's nice, if you get to know her... in a strange, twisted kind of way."

The train started to slow down and Terry immediately jumped of her seat, "we're here, we're here!"  
Cassie grinned broadly, and like Terry she couldn't wait to get off the train and to see Hogwarts with her own eyes. Her mother told about it so many times, and Jane always got home with wild stories about students fighting with dragons, Hippogriffs disappearing into thin air, dementors that would guard the school for an unknown reason and more of the like.  
"Life at Hogwarts," she once said, "is _never_ boring."  
She was dragged out of the train by an overexcited Terry.  
"First years here, first years over here," someone shouted. "First years over here!"  
"There," Terry whispered, pointing at a woman not to far away and they made their way across the platform. A few minutes later, a large group of first-years had gathered around the woman who introduced herself as professor Grubbly-Plank. "I teach Care Of Magical Creatures," she told Cassie, when she asked. "But you won't start that subject until you're in your third year, and with any luck, Hagrid will be back by than, so you probably won't see me around anymore." She turned to the rest of the group and pointed at some boats, "everyone get in a boat with three to four people. This will transport you to Hogwarts, where you will be awaited by Professor McGonnagal."  
She got into one of the boats to set an example. Cassie and Terry entered a boat next to hers, accompanied by two other girls who had introduced themselves as Medusa Faith Rivers ("Call me Faith," she had immediately said afterwards) and Hera Twain. Faith was tanned, had long, dark-brown hair reaching to her middle and wore sunglasses. ("She thinks it looks cool," Hera had whispered to Cassie with a grin.) Hera had braided hair and deep brown eyes, almost as dark as her pupils. While the boat took them to Hogwarts, Hera and Faith told them that they had known each other their entire lives and that they were best friends since they could think and talk.  
"Our parents opened a pub in Diagon Alley," Hera explained, "that's how we met."  
"In a few moments," Grubbly-Plank voice boomed over the lake, "you'll have your first view of Hogwarts, so take a good look."  
Terry pinched Cassie hard in the arm, who returned her the favor and they ended up in a whispered argument about whether or not Terry had started, but immediately dropped the issue when a large castle came into view. Cassie didn't know she was holding her breath until Terry cast her a concerned glance and asked her if she considered it wise to start breathing again, because she was turning blue. If looks could have killed; it would've bin the last thing that Terry had ever said.  
Shortly after that, the group of first year was standing in the Entrance Hall, all turning slightly pale with excitement.  
"They said that we're gonna have to face a boggart," Faith said, looking worried. "So that they'll know what our worst fear is and if we're brave enough to face 'm."  
"Don't be ridiculous," Hera said, but she didn't sound too convincing, "they're not going to let us face a boggart... we don't even know how to -" She got cut off by an elderly-looking witch, "Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonnagal. In a few moments, you will pass through these doors, where you will await to be sorted." She gave them all an encouraging smile, "I wish you all the best of luck... Follow me, please." She turned around and opened two large doors, where all the elder students seemed to have bin waiting for the first years to arrive.  
"Oh no," Terry moaned, looking at the large crowd, "they can't be serious."  
"I'm afraid they are," Cassie whispered, trying to spot her sister.  
"What's that?" Terry asked, pointing at an old, battered had, which was placed on a stool, but before Cassie had the time to reply, the hat suddenly started talking, to Cassie's great shock and surprise, her mother had told her about this, but still, it was strange to see a hat talking. It started with four men, who founded Hogwarts; Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. They all started a house, within the school, where they would sort the students to their own likings. It started of welcoming enough, but slowly the Sorting Hat's song became more depressing, the friendships between the four houses were ruined, and eventually Slytherin left. The Sorting Hat ended with a warning; that all the Houses should unite, to stand strong together, because times of great peril were coming.  
At first, Cassie just thought that the Sorting Hat was a pessimist and that he did this every year, to scare off the first years perhaps, have a little fun with them. But when the elder students started to murmur, Cassie realized that this was far from the truth. '_Great_,' she thought, '_couldn't the terror wait till _after_ I was graduated_?'  
Professor started to call of names and one by one the first years stepped forward to be sorted by the Hat. Cassie was, unfortunately, one of the first to be sorted. And when McGonnagal called out "Avery, Cassandra Elizabeth" she walked to the stool with a blush creeping on her face.  
She sat down and put on the Sorting Hat, hoping that this would all be over soon.  
"_Interesting, interesting_," she heard a soft whisper, she froze for a moment with fear, but than realized it was the Sorting Hat who had bin talking, so slowly she started to relax. "_You're very smart, so I'd almost immediately say Ravenclaw, yet your background makes me think_."  
Her background? Her mother had bin in Ravenclaw as well, so if that was what he meant than -  
"_No, no no, that's not what I meant_," the Sorting Hat replied, "_Your father was in Slytherin when he attended Hogwarts, and your sister - Jane - is in Slytherin as well. You've got some of your sister's qualities, but still, you're not Slytherin-material. I think I'll put you in_... RAVENCLAW." The last word was shouted out loud, which made Cassie jump with shock. She softly swore under her breath when she placed the hat back on the stool. He had not given her time to ask about her father, if he would have just given her a minute...

Terry, Hera and Faith also got sorted in Ravenclaw, and the four of them shared a room.  
They were all extremely tired when they reached their bedroom, even Terry didn't seem to have the strength to quote her grandmother. Cassie felt like she could collapse any second, so she changed into her pajama's and just as she was about to go to sleep, her mind wondered back to the Sorting Ceremony. The Hat had known who her father was, but how was that possible if she didn't even know herself? She frowned, if she'd just figure out where they kept it, she might be able to ask him some more questions about her father, she might find out who he was, if he was still OK.  
Or she could just write a letter to her mother, telling that her secrecy had endured long enough, that she was already eleven years old and had the right to know the truth. She sighed heavily, yeah, that would work. If she wanted to get a howler back, that was.

"Terry!" Faith roared, "it's five o'clock in the morning! What the hell do you think you're doing!"  
"My grandmother always says starting early clears your mind," Terry said innocently, looking quite shaken by the sudden outburst of Faith.  
Cassie stared at the ceiling - now where was she again? Oh, Hogwarts, of course. She still felt drowsy and when she got up, she immediately sat back down, the sun wasn't even up yet!  
"Look," Faith said, calming down, "I understand if _you_ want to start early - be my guest, but do _not_ wake up the rest of us. We don't need our minds to be clear, we just want a good night sleep, OK?"  
Hera was still snoring at the far end of the room, not giving any intention that she had bin bothered by Terry, who had bin singing in the bath room and had switched on all the lights. "That girl," Faith said, annoyed, "sleeps through everything."  
Cassie yawned loudly and managed to drag herself to the bathroom, where she changed into her school robes and wondered when exactly she had fallen asleep, it had happened very sudden, that was for sure. One moment she was trying to spot the fly that zoomed annoyingly through the room, and the next moment, everything was black.  
"When do we get our schedule anyway?" Faith asked, from the bedroom.  
"I dwunno, at bweakfwast or swomwing?" Cassie replied, who was momentarily brushing her teeth.

Horrible, horrible, horrible. Cassie was feeling sorry that she had agreed with Terry so share a room. The rest of the time that the three girls had waited for Hera to wake up and for breakfast to start, Terry had bin singing all sorts of stupid songs, which she said were huge hits in the Muggle world. Than Faith had said that either she really couldn't sing, or Muggles were horrible at making music and that had started a whole fight about whether or not that was discrimination against Muggles and they ended up screaming so loud at each other, that a prefect had to come down to shut them up.  
Still, Hera had not woken up. Cassie had bin slightly worried by than, what if she slept through the entire day? But Faith had ensured her that she'd be up at seven o'clock sharp. And so she did.  
Now they were all sitting at breakfast, and Cassie didn't feel clear-minded at all, she wanted to ask Terry how her grandmother ever got to that theory, but not wanting to start another useless fight, she decided against it. They got their schedules that morning as well. They started with History of Magic, Defense Against The Dark Arts, Transfiguration and Herbology.  
"Defense Against The Dark Arts sounds good," Terry said, looking at her schedule. Cassie snorted, she probably only thought it was good because her aunt was teaching it. She glanced up at the Staff Table, trying to find Professor Umbridge between the other teachers; she already knew who she was. Last night, Umbridge had interrupted the speech of professor Dumbledore - the Headmaster - and by the reaction of the elder students, it was something that you were not supposed to do. Umbridge was sitting comfortably at the staff table, eating her breakfast and every once in a while looked around the Great Hall. Though Terry had waved at her when Umbridge's eyes had rested on the Ravenclaw table, she hadn't given any indication that she had recognized her niece among the other students.  
"Probably because she didn't see me," Terry had told Cassie, but she hadn't sound very convincing.  
"Sounds good?" Hera said, "it doesn't just _sound_ good, Terry, it _is_ good. We probably get to practice loads of spells and jinxes there - I can hardly wait!"

-~*~-

A/N: Did you like it?


	2. Matches And Needles

A/N: Well, here's the second chapter. My thanks to Serayane and Grandwilde for their lovely reviews. Second of all; don't expect any updates for an entire month. I'm going on vacation on the thirteenth of July, to Italy, and I'll be away for three weeks. Anyway; enjoy reading and please review! I really could use some comments on how to improve my writing.

**Chapter 2 - Matches And Needles**

"I wonder who we have for History Of Magic," Terry said, as the four of them sat down next to each other. "My grandmother had this terrible teacher - or at least, she _said_ he was terrible - Professor Binns, or something. She said he was really boring."  
Cassie was just busy getting her book out of her bag, when suddenly Faith let out a loud scream. "A GHOST!"  
"Oh, get a grip, Faith," Hera said impatiently, "the entire castle is inhabited by ghosts. They even got a poltergeist out here - what harm could _he_ do."  
Cassie looked up from under a table, and indeed a ghost was standing behind the teacher's desk, or - to be more correct - _floating_ behind the desk. He didn't look directly at the students, a bored expression on his face and he started to call off names, to see if everyone was there; "Euan Abercrombie?"  
"Yeah," a boy who was sitting at the very end of the classroom raised his hand, to show the ghost he was present.  
"Evelyne Aura?"  
"Cassandra Elizabeth Avery?"  
"Here," Cassie said, raising her hand as well. In total; there were about sixteen to fifteen Ravenclaws in her class. (there were two groups of first year Ravenclaws in total) At the moment, their class was mixed with the Gryffindors. Of some Cassie already knew the name, she had talked to Todd and Larry last night, Daphne was the girl who had accidentally broken one of the Crystal Balls of a sixth year this morning ("If I hadn't known the spell to repair this," the sixth year had said in a threatening tone, "I would've thrown you out the window! Do you have any idea how expensive this is?") and Boas was the small kid, who hardly reached to Cassie's shoulders. When the ghost was finished, Faith raised her hand.  
"Yes, miss Rivers," he asked.  
"When will the professor arrive, sir?" Faith asked.  
"I _am_ the professor," the ghost said, "my name is professor Binns."  
Terry gasped and gave Cassie a horrific look. '_Oh, right_,' Cassie thought, '_that was the teacher her grandmother had..._'  
"This year we will start with the Goblin Rebellions, and - by request of professor Dumbledore - we will also discuss the first reign of You Know Who," professor Binns told them, "I would advice you to take notes of everything I say, because it will all come back on your exam by the end of the year..."  
"Why would they let a ghost teach History of Magic?" Hera whispered. Faith shrugged, "I dunno... maybe they felt sorry for him?"  
"What did he mean with the first reign?" Cassie demanded, not paying any attention to the discussion of Hera and Faith and turning to Terry.  
"According to Dumbledore, You Know Who came back last year," Terry whispered, "Harry Potter said he saw him, but the _Daily Prophet_ says he made it all up to get attention. But because Dumbledore believed Harry, they say he's gone crazy as well."  
Why had her mother never mentioned this? Cassie never read the _Daily Prophet_ herself, she found it boring, but her mother always told her when something bad had happened - like when the Dark Mark appeared during the Quidditch Cup Finals last year. "Seems like Voldemort did not loose all his Death Eaters when he died," her mother had said darkly.  
'_Maybe she didn't find it important enough_,' Cassie thought. After all, if Harry Potter was just making it all up...  
"Today we will start with the first Goblin Rebellion, exactly five-hundred years ago when Hairy Hank..." Professor Binns began, his voice dull and monotone. The first years hurriedly got out their quills and ink and started to scribble down every word he said,

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor Umbridge said, smiling widely. Terry pinched Cassie excitedly in the arm and whispered proudly, "my aunt." She waved, but Umbridge ignored her.  
"My name is Professor Umbridge and... _What miss Umbridge_?" she snapped, looking directly at Terry who had just started to wave with both arms, because she had thought that her aunt hadn't noticed her. Terry turned a bright shade of red, "n-nothing aunt -"  
"When we're in _my_ classroom, it's _Professor Umbridge_," the professor said strictly, her eyes flashing as though it was a shame that Terry had openly revealed that they were related. "Now, as I was saying; I will be your Defence Against The Dark Arts teacher this year. Now get out your books..."  
Everyone quickly got out their books and looked expectantly at their teacher. Faith looked like she was about to faint, clutching her wand as if her life was depending on it.  
"Now everyone put your wands away and open your books at page 10 and read the introduction, there will be no need to talk," she settled herself behind the desk and looked at the group of young students, who looked disappointed but didn't protest. Cassie looked at Faith, she was the only one still holding her wand and was looking directly at professor Umbridge. "Faith," she whispered. Faith didn't reply.  
"Faith," she said - louder this time, "you're supposed to..."  
"Miss Avery," Umbridge snapped, "is there a problem?"  
"Er... I just wanted to..."  
"I thought I told you not to talk?"  
"Yes, but..."  
"Than why are you talking?"  
"Because..."  
"Return to your book, than, miss Avery," Umbridge turned to Faith, "and you, miss Rivers; I told you to put your wand away." Faith rolled her eyes but obeyed. The rest of the class was spent with reading the introduction. "We'll probably get to do the spells _next_ time," Faith said hopefully, as they left the classroom, "I mean, she first wanted us to know enough about defensive spells and stuff before she teaches us all the cool stuff..."  
"Yeah," Cassie nodded, but something told her that Umbridge didn't plan on teaching them _anything_ fun.

'_Explain the process of turning a match into a needle_'_. _That's what she had to write about for her professor in Transfiguration._  
_Cassie bit on her tongue while reading her book for Transfiguration, hoping to find anything useful. When Cassie had accidentally set her desk on fire when she tried to transfigure her match, McGonnagal had said that it might be wise for her to study the text before she did anything again. "And to make sure that you do," McGonnagal had said, "I want you to write a report about it, it doesn't have to be long, but just so I know you studied it."  
And that left Cassie in the Common Room of Ravenclaw, all her classmates already went to bed, officially they had to be in bed by half past nine, but Cassie didn't have time to follow the rules. She wanted to finish this before tomorrow.  
'_Transfiguration is a delicate process. You only need to make a minimal mistake in the movements of your wand and/or in your incantations, and all your work has bin for nothing_._ The eventual purpose of learning Transfiguration, is to be able to turn other objects, animals and _even_ yourself into whatever you need or desire. But everyone should be aware, that only a selected few will have enough talent to ever become - as they call - an Animagus, which means that you can turn yourself into an animal by will.  
'A lot of wizards have tried, and most have failed, often at the cost of their lives, but it has also occurred that wizards had to spent the rest of their lives in animal-form because they did not have enough power to shift back.._'  
"That would probably happen to me if I tried," Cassie muttered.  
'_Others only managed to transfigure parts of their body, so that they were - for example - half cat and half human and this process is, unfortunately, still irreversible, though it is said that they are working on a cure in the Department Of Mysteries.  
'But even if there _was_ a cure, the Ministry and schools in witchcraft, want to avoid these accidents at all cost. Before any wizard or witch ever tries to become an Animagus, it must understand the arts of Transfiguration entirely. And to reach this goal, we have to start at the _very_ beginning, by turning a match into a needle. There are no risks involved -_'  
Cassie snorted, yeah, that was why half the classroom was on fire this afternoon. No danger whatsoever.  
'_- And it is easy to do. But even though transfiguring a match is only the very basic of our goal; it must _not_ be taken lightly. The difficulty is that the match is a small object, so your aim has to be more accurate. It would be a shame if your spell accidentally hit a person who's sitting next to you and turn him/her into a needle, and it would bring a lot of trouble too!  
_'_Therefore, we will take the time to explain how exactly the match is transfigured_...'  
Cassie groaned, this was going to take longer than she thought...

"You actually made it?" Faith asked, her eyebrows raised, "why?"  
"Because I had too, that's why," Cassie snapped, she was feeling awfully tired. She had bin working on McGonnagal's assignment till at least eleven o'clock. Now the four of them were sitting at breakfast in the Great Hall.  
"No need to get all defensive about it," Faith mumbled.  
"Anyways," Terry said, before Cassie had time to reply, "We've got Charms next!"  
"Finally some action!" Hera said cheerfully. "I wonder who we'll get."  
"I bet," Faith said gloomily, "that it'll be someone just like Umbridge."  
"Hey!" Terry said offended, "what's wrong with my aunt?"  
"Nothing, just that she's dull."  
"We've only had her once, maybe she was just in a bad mood... I'm sure that she'll..." Terry was cut off by Boas who said it was time to go to their class and in a few minutes all of first years were making their way through the building. (apparently, the older students didn't think it was time to leave the Great Hall yet, though they only had fifteen minutes left till classes started)  
Cassie followed her classmates, not having any idea where to go, and still not feeling at home in the gigantic castle, in which she got lost every time she tried to get anywhere by herself. Her mother and her sister Jane had told so many amazing stories about Hogwarts, but to be very honest, she'd rather be at home.  
"This way, this way," Boas squeaked. Somehow, he always seem to know his way around the building. He told Cassie that he had bin exploring yesterday, and his father had told him so much about the castle, that he knew what it looked like before he even got here.  
About five minutes later, they were standing in front of the the (supposedly) right classroom and they were waiting patiently for their professor to arrive.  
"It's professor Flitwick, you know, our head of the house," a girl told Terry. That girl hardly ever talked to anyone, her name was Caitlin, or something like that. She wasn't sure.  
"What's professor Flitwick?" Cassie asked, turning to Caitlin.  
"Our Charms-professor," the girl mumbled, her pale skin turning a bright shade of red, probably not used to this kind of attention. She had long, wavy, blond hair reaching to somewhere about her middle and deep blue eyes.  
"Flitwick? Isn't he really small?" Boas asked. Cassie looked at him with raised eyebrows, "like you're a giant." He shot her a death glare.  
"You know," Terry whispered, "you really should try to be nice to others... after all, you'll have to put up with them for seven years." Cassie shrugged, like she cared.

"Well, hello there." Professor Flitwick squeaked, "as you all will have guessed, I will be teaching you charms in the following seven years to come. And I'd like to welcome you all to Hogwarts and I hope you will enjoy your stay..."  
Cassie sighed, anymore teachers welcoming her to this school and she'd go crazy, honestly.  
"Before we will start with learning how to use spells, we'll read the introduction..."  
The class moaned, none of them felt like reading the twenty-paged introduction of their _Standard Book Of Spells_. Was this what becoming a witch was about? Cassie wondered, just reading books? Unlike the rest of class, she didn't have _any_ problem with that at all. After Transfiguration, she feared that she was probably the worst witch that had ever set foot in Hogwarts, and she didn't feel like doing any spell anytime soon. She eagerly opened her book, but unfortunately for her; Flitwick was a very friendly man. "All right, all right," he said, gesturing for the class to remain quiet, "I think you want to learn how to do spells? Very well, we will start with the very basics; learning how to get light the tip of your wand.  
"It's very simple. Repeat after me: _Lumos_!"  
"Lumos," the entire class said.  
"OK, now get your wands ready and say it again!"  
Everyone got their wands and raised them in the air, like Flitwick did, and on his sign they all said: "Lumos!"  
Most children got the spell to work, but Cassie only managed to get blue sparks flying out.  
"No worries, no worries," Flitwick said, climbing of his stack of books he was sitting on and hurrying towards Cassie, "you're not concentrating hard enough... Now, raise your wand slightly - exactly. Now, repeat after me, _Lumos_."  
"_Lumos_," Cassie said, wondering what she had to concentrate on.  
"Excellent, excellent!" Flitwick squealed. Cassie looked up, and indeed her wand was giving off light. She grinned, that was pretty good... but than her light started to flicker and died out. She pouted.  
"It was very well for a second try," the professor assured her. "Just keep working on it. Now, class, we'll learn the counter spell. Repeat after me: _ Nox_."  
"Nox," was the immediate reply of the young students.  
"This will make the light go out." Flitwick explained. They practiced for a few more minutes, and a half an hour before the class ended, Flitwick said: "Now everyone, we've learned a spell, now we'll read the introduction."  
No one complained this time, all satisfied by what they had learned. Only Cassie felt horrible, she still couldn't perform the charm correctly... maybe she wasn't a witch after all, maybe she was just a squib and they made a mistake or something. She didn't know, all she knew, was that something was wrong with her.

~*~

A/N: Next time; Cassie's first potions class, strange letters, meeting new students and a lot of trouble with Umbridge! Please leave a review and tell me what you think.


	3. Why now?

**A/N**: I was surprised to see that I had two more reviews :). And hnh; I'm not insulted, I'm glad you told me so this way I can improve my story. And thanks Serayana, I really appreciated your review. Anyways; I'm sorry I haven't updated this long, but after I came back from Italy, everything came a little hectic around here. (especially since school started again) I hope I can update at least once a week, but if it takes a little longer, please bear with me. Enjoy the new chapter, and please leave a review. ;)

**Chapter three - Why now?**

"We'll be late," Terry panted, "I'm sure we will."  
"And it's _your_ fault," Faith snapped, "I _told_ you we had potions!"  
Cassie ran behind them through the corridors, knowing that she must look stupid to all of the older students, who didn't seem to be aware of the fact that class was already starting in _six_ minutes! They were walking calmly as if they still had all the time of the world and they laughed when they saw the four first years running past them.  
They were on the third floor because Terry had thought they had Transfiguration their first hour, but when they had been the only ones waiting patiently at the classroom of professor McGonnagal, they'd realized they were at the wrong place. When they'd looked on their schedule, they found out they actually had potions and had to run to be there on time, because they had to be in the dungeon.  
"You did not," Terry managed to say in protest, though her voice sounded unusually high.  
"We've been running for ages," Hera complained, "are we there yet?" No one answered.  
"The stairs, the stairs!" Faith roared, as if it was the stairway to heaven. Encouraged by the sight, she ran a little faster, every now and than turning around to see if the others were still behind her. "Cassie, hurry up, will you?"  
Cassie was unable to answer, her face was warm of the running and soon she would start to sweat, she just knew she would. And than she would smell the entire day and no one would want to sit next to her and in her entire career at Hogwarts she would be known as the 'Girl that smells so bad'. This was so unfair. And she blamed it all on Terry, though it wasn't really her fault. After all, if she hadn't been to lazy to look on her schedule herself she would have known where to go.  
'_Still_,' she thought stubbornly, '_it's _her_ fault._'  
They finally reached the dungeons and Faith immediately came to a halt, "it's somewhere around here."  
Cassie raised her eyebrows, she didn't like the look of it. Even though it was September, it felt like it was midwinter down here, and it looked very depressing.  
"Over there," Hera said, still out of breath. A man had came out of a door, he glared at them. "You are late," he barked with spit coming out of his mouth. "Not a way to make a good first impression, don't you think?"  
When all four of them remained quiet he pointed at the open door, "get in."  
Cassie sighed with relief, at least he hadn't taken off any points.

~*~

Cassie wasn't sure what to think of their Professor in Potions, apparently, his name was Snape. He was the head of Slytherin and Jane had said he was very nice and understanding, but maybe it was just her, but taking ten points off for forgetting her books, wasn't exactly what she called nice. And especially understanding. Even when she had explained him that it wasn't _her_ fault because she thought she had Transfiguration, he wouldn't listen.  
"You were late _and_ forgot your books," he'd said coolly, "I think I'm being very forgiving by just taking of ten points. Now leave the subject before I take off any more."  
She was glad when the class had ended, and now she was waiting in what was called the 'Quidditch Pitch', for their first flying lesson. Terry was - as Cassie had suspected - extremely excited, Faith mildly interested and Hera looked doubtful. She herself almost wished to be back in Potions. Stupid brooms. Why did she have to learn how too fly anyway? It wasn't like she wanted to join one of the House Teams next year, or do anything that involved flying _at all_. She was human, her feet were supposed to stay safely on the ground.  
But apparently learning how to fly was something _very_ important. Important enough for her to _risk_ her _life_ for absolutely _ nothing_.  
A woman with hawk-like eyes came in, looking shortly at each one of them. "My name is Madame Hooch, I'll be teaching you how to fly properly. First, raise your hand above your broom and say _Up_."  
Cassie held out her hand, "_Up_." She said sharply. The broom rolled over, but nothing else happened. Faith got it right immediately and smiled innocently when Cassie stared disbelievingly at her, "I've got a broom at home."  
"_Up_," Cassie said again. '_Please, please_,' she begged as she noticed that a lot of the others got the broom to do what they wanted. "_Up_." The broom shot up and she caught it in her hand, a sigh of relief escaping her lips.  
"Now, you sit down like this," Madame Hooch said, sitting down on her broom, "this way it is harder to fall off when you're in the air..."  
Harder to fall off? What did she mean with _harder_ to fall off?  
"... Now everyone mount their brooms."  
Cassie hesitated, but when Madame Hooch looked expectantly at her, she swiftly mounted her broom.  
"And on three, kick off. Don't fly too high and come down when I tell you too, don't try any silly stunts if you don't want to loose any housepoints. Do I make myself clear?"  
When everyone nodded she smiled, "good. Now, on three... One, two, three."  
Cassie kicked off.  
"You see?" Terry asked, flying next to her, "It's not that bad!"  
Cassie grunted, forcing herself not to look down as she let herself fly a little higher and after that calmly waited until Madame Hooch told them to come down again.  
"If you're just standing still all the time it's no wonder that you hate to fly," Terry said accusingly when she landed.  
Cassie shrugged, "at least I got in the air, didn't I?"

~*~

The next morning, right in the middle of the week (which Cassie was very thankful for, because this week had lasted long enough already), something happened that she hadn't expected. First of all, she found out that her mother had subscribed her too the Daily Prophet ('_Now that you're getting older, it is very important that you know what is going on in the world_.') and second of all, that she knew someone named 'Mordred'. She inspected the envelope thoroughly before opening it. All it said was that it was from 'Mordred'. Nothing more.  
"Well? Are you going to open it already?" Hera said, without once looking up from Cassie's edition of the Daily Prophet.  
"Yeah, yeah," Cassie said vaguely as she started to read the letter.

'_Dear Cassandra,  
It's been at least eleven years since I last saw you..._'

At least? She snorted. She was just eleven years old, it couldn't have been any longer.

'_And I am very sorry that I have never been able to play a role in your life. But even if I had tried, your mother wouldn't have let me, and perhaps with right.  
'However, right now I am able to make up for the mistakes I have made in the past and I wish to see you and your sister again. I know that you are not allowed to leave Hogwarts' grounds, so I won't ask you too. I suggest that we keep contact by writing and meet each other during the Holidays. Let me know what you think of it._

_'But first, let me explain a few things for you. You see, about seventeen years ago your mother and I fell in love. But we were living in strange times and we both did crazy things. We broke up, short after you were born, because our ideals were too different and your mother couldn't accept who and what I was.  
'We got divorced and I was forbidden to see you or your sister any longer, but though you have never heard of me, you have always been on my mind.  
'I am sure you have many questions, and maybe you are even angry at me for leaving you. Tell me all, I won't hold it against you. I will try to answer all of your questions (though some things are better left unsaid) and I hope in time you can forgive me for giving you and your sister up so quickly._

_I love you,_

_Your father,  
Modred Avery_.'

She stared at the letter for a very long time, not knowing what to think or what to say. Was this some kind of joke? And why had he waited this long to write her? Why had he written her at all? Of course she had wanted to know who her father is, and how he was doing, but this... this was far to sudden. Had he written to Jane as well?  
And what did he expect she should write back? Did he expect her to write him back at _all_?  
She rested her head in her hands and took a deep breath. She _had_ to talk to Jane.

~*~

She didn't see Jane till after school, her older sister - who was already in her fifth year - was sitting by the lake talking with her friends, well, her friends were talking. Jane herself seemed awfully quiet, and knowing her sister, this wasn't a good sign. Cassie had always been the quiet one, talking only when she felt like it and keeping most of her thoughts to herself. Jane on the other hand, always spoke her mind, for good and for worse.  
Luckily, during the past few years she had started to learn what was wise to say and what not, but every now and than slipped back to her old habit of criticizing everything and everyone around her.  
"Jane?" Cassie asked. Her sister looked up and smiled faintly.  
"Could I talk to you? In private?"

~*~

"I know," Jane said calmly, "he's written to me as well." She dug in the pockets of her robe and took out a piece of parchment, "About the same things as he told you. That he's _very_ sorry, that he wasn't allowed to see us..." They were sitting in the Great Hall, which was completely deserted by this time of the day (since everyone was either doing his homework or somewhere having fun). The later of Mordred was lying on the table, Jane had just swiftly looked it through.  
"But why would mum have done such a thing?"  
"I don't know. But it must've been a good reason," Jane said sighing.  
"And what did he mean with strange times?"  
"Seventeen years ago, first reign of You Know Who."  
"_First reign_," Cassie commented sharply, "You know that the Ministry says that Harry Potter is lying, are you?"  
"Whatever all the other Slytherins might say, I think he's telling the truth. Not because I'm a personal fan of Potter, but I am a fan of Dumbledore, I believe what _he_ says. And if he says that the Dark Lord is back, than he is," Jane explained. Cassie looked at Mordred's letter and than to her sister, "why now?"  
Jane's eyes got a mischievous glint, "why not ask him?"  
"Mum would kill us if she finds out!"  
"_If_ she finds out. And we're not going to tell her, _are we_?" Jane looked at her sharply. Cassie hesitated, but than slowly nodded.

~*~

Cassie was standing in the Owlery, she had agreed with her sister that _she_ would post the letter. Now she wasn't sure if she wanted to post it. Could she even trust her father? _Was_ it even her father or just someone trying to be funny? And the question that kept repeating itself: _Why_ now_?_

'_Dear Mordred_,'

"We don't want it to get to personal," Jane had explained when she wrote it down. "Let him deserve the title of 'father'. He certainly hasn't up to now."

'_We are only writing you because we think we deserve to know a few things and we are certain that mum wouldn't tell us if we'd ask.  
'First of all, we would like to know _why_ you sought contact with us while you have ignored us for such a long time.'_

"Keep it friendly," Cassie had warned. "Ask him how he is doing. Where he is."

'_And we would like to know where you live, if you are OK and if you have other children besides us, if you are married and what your job is._'

"That good enough for you?" Jane had said sarcastically. Cassie had shrugged, it sounded like she was interrogating him instead of asking him polite questions.

'_We don't know if we want to meet you during the Holidays. We first want to know more about you and why mum doesn't want us to know anything about you before we can decide..._'

"Speak for yourself," Cassie had said angrily. Jane had ignored her.

'_Sincerely,  
Cassandra and Jane_.'

It was a short and impersonal letter, Cassie thought, shaking her head. But he didn't deserve anything else. She didn't even know if he deserved a letter at all. But she had to know. She had to see him, even if he was horrible and mean. And if she wouldn't post the letter, if she would ignore it, she would never forgive herself.  
She called one of the School Owls and gave him the letter, "Give this to Mordred Avery. And _only_ to Mordred Avery."  
She watched as the owl flew away, feeling both guilty that she had sent it without talking to her mother first, and excited that she finally had contact with her father.

~*~

To be continued very soon (and that's a promise, you can expect an update by the end of the week) :)


	4. Your aunt is writing history'

**Chapter 4 - 'Your aunt is writing history!'**

The first week at Hogwarts came to an end, and Cassie sighed with relief when the last hour on Friday ended. A whole weekend to relax and to think before having to worry about any class again.  
Saturday came and went, she talked for a long time with Terry, who she started to appreciate more and more (especially on the occasions that she didn't bring up any of her family relatives) and she practiced some spells with Hera and Faith. She wrote a long letter to her mother but she didn't tell anything about Mordred - as Jane had ordered her - and though she didn't like to lie to her mother, she knew it was for the best. And Jane had pointed out that she wasn't lying, she just 'forgot' to mention a few things.  
But on Sunday, everything changed once more.

~*~

"Can I have that?" Hera asked, but didn't wait for Cassie to answer and immediately snatched the Daily Prophet from under her nose. She smiled apologetically, "It's not like you were going to read it or anything."  
"It's OK," Cassie said, truth be told, she hadn't read a single Daily Prophet yet. Hera kept her up to date anyway, and it wasn't like anything important was happening, or something that she should know about. Mostly it was about Harry Potter being crazy and Dumbledore making a mess of it all. And after she had heard about that two or three times, she found the story getting old. She had seen Harry Potter every now and then; which was logical as he was in the same school as she was. But other than pure fascination (hey, he had been the one to defeat He Who Must Not Been Named fourteen years ago, no article could cover _ that_ up), she hadn't found him very interesting at all.  
And even if she had; what was she supposed to do with it? He was a fifth year. He surely wasn't waiting for some first year to come running after him all the time. Terry had looked at him with disgust. "Aunt Dolores says he's trouble," she had said, wrinkling her nose. "That he's just after getting attention from everyone."  
"I would start a personal fan club for him just to annoy that aunt of yours," Faith had said darkly.  
And professor Dumbledore... well, she had seen him in the corridors every now and then, but nothing more. He looked friendly and he probably was, according to Jane and her mother he was one of the nicest people they had ever known. But you wouldn't want him as your enemy; he was very powerful. '_Something I will never be_,' she thought bitterly. Her spells still didn't work the way she wanted them too. However, potions had gone really well. She was already finished with her homework, and much to the surprise of her other classmates, she had enjoyed doing it.  
And Herbology had been fairly easy as well. At least _two_ subjects that she could pass this year.  
"Hey!" Hera's surprised outburst brought Cassie back to the present.  
"Your aunt is in the Daily Prophet, Terry." Hera said excitedly. Terry's face immediately darkened and she whispered to Cassie; "this can't be good."  
"Listen to this: _Ministry seeks educational reform. Dolores Umbridge appointed first ever High Inquisitor_. Your aunt is writing history!"  
Terry looked suspiciously at the staff table, where professor Umbridge had obviously been waiting for her niece to read the Daily Prophet, as she grinned proudly when she caught Terry's glance.  
"What are they talking about?" Faith asked after a few minutes of silence. Hera looked up from the article, not looking as excited as she had done a few minutes ago. She cleared her throat and read aloud: "_As recently as 30th August, Educational Decree Number Twenty-Two was passed, to ensure that, in the event of the current Headmaster being unable to provide a candidate for a teaching post, the Ministry should select an appropriate person_. They now say that Dumbledore couldn't find anyone to teach Defense Against the Dark Arts so the Ministry appointed Umbridge."  
"I already wondered how Umbridge ever got to be a teacher," Faith muttered. Terry shot her a death glare. Cassie smiled, obviously Terry found that only she was allowed to say anything bad about her aunt.  
"_It is the last function that the Ministry has now formalized with the passing of Educational Decree number Twenty-three, which creates the new position of Hogwarts High Inquisitor_," Hera continued, ignoring Faith's comment. "_'This is an exciting new phase in the Minister's plan to get to grips with what some are calling the falling standards at Hogwarts,' said Weasley. 'The Inquisitor will have powers to inspect her fellow educators and make sure they are coming up to scratch_.' That's the basic idea. The rest is just repeating everything what they have written the past few weeks."  
"Well," Cassie said hesitantly, as she saw the gloomy face of Terry, "the Ministry must trust her if they think she is up for such a job."  
"And that is what worries me," Terry mumbled so softly that only Cassie could hear.  
"Does have a ring to it, doesn't it?" Hera said cheerfully, "Dolores Umbridge - The High Inquisitor."  
Faith snorted.

~*~

Terry immediately left for the common room after breakfast and went to her room, refusing to leave it for the entire day, not willing to face the comments of the other students. But they didn't seem very disturbed by the news of Umbridge becoming a High Inquisitor. All of them were inspired by the other articles of the Daily Prophet and were in the opinion that Hogwarts needed some improvement.  
And who could deliver it better than the Ministry of Magic itself?  
However, others argued how Umbridge could possible make things any better, while she was the worst teacher they had ever had, but they were greatly outnumbered.  
Yes, Umbridge was awful, and yes, Moody had been better, but the Ministry wouldn't appoint her as High Inquisitor if they didn't think it was necessary. "And I shall quote from the article," Todd had said (and Cassie had once again wondered how the voice of a boy could possibly be that high), "_Among those eccentric decisions are undoubtedly the controversial staff appointments previously described in this newspaper, which have included the employment of werewolf Remus Lupin, half-giant Rubeus Hagrid and delusional ex-Auror, "Mad-Eye" Moody_. The Ministry's just trying to make this place safe for the students. They have the best interests at heart."  
But it didn't matter how many times Cassie told Terry this; she kept thinking that her life was over. "Just you wait," she said, "in a few weeks they'll realize what this really means."  
"But they don't realize it now, do they?" Cassie said, shrugging. "Besides, what are you going to do about it? It isn't going to change by staying in your room all day."  
"I know what I'm going to do," Terry suddenly said grimly, "I'm going to write my grandmother! She'll know what to do!"  
"You do that," Cassie said, sighing relieved, "but afterwards you'll come outside with me and forget that you have ever read that stupid article." 

~*~

"... thousands of Goblins have tried to start several revolutions throughout the years, some violent, some peaceful," Professor Binns said. It was their last hour on Monday and Umbridge was sitting in the back of the classroom. She looked around, her eyes narrowed, trying to see if any of the students were not paying attention. And though it was hard for them all to do so; they had agreed to do their best whenever Umbridge decided to inspect one of the teachers.  
They all knew that the Ministry wanted the best for Hogwarts and more of that stuff, but they just didn't want to be responsible (or better said, _feel_ responsible) for the suspension of a teacher.  
So that was why they were listening intently to everything Binns had to say, every now and then writing something down if they found any of the information useful (because they had already figured out that copying everything he said was simply impossible). "They were all for the same reasons; equal rights."  
Cassie raised her hand.  
"Yes, miss Avery?"  
"Did they get what they wanted, sir?" Cassie asked.  
"No," professor Binns said. "And I was coming to that. In our community, it is very hard to define what is a beast and what not. Muggles have it easy; they think they are the only ones on earth that can think rationally. But with wizards, it works differently. Mermaids, goblins, werewolves and a lot more Magical Creatures, can think rationally as well."  
Umbridge coughed.  
"Is there anything you would like to add, professor Umbridge?" Binns said, in his usual monotone voice.  
"Thank you, professor," Umbridge said, smiling sweetly. She got up from her chair and looked to the students, who had all turned around to face her. "You must not forget to mention, that once they turn into a wolf, werewolves are unable to think anything remotely rational. That is why most at the Ministry define them as beasts."  
"Yes," Binns said slowly, pausing for a moment as if he would like to add something, but than changed his mind. "As I was saying. There are other creatures that can think just as well as we do. But where must we draw the line?"  
Binns continued for a while, and when the hour ended, he nodded politely towards Umbridge before leaving.  
"I wonder what she's going to tell the Ministry about him," Hera said softly.  
"I already know," Faith answered, "she's going to recommend him. He's just as boring as she is."  
"Hey," Terry said insulted. But later on she told Cassie that she didn't think that Faith was far from the truth.

~*~

When yet another week was drawing to its close, Cassie still hadn't got any word from Mordred, and as far as she knew; Jane hadn't either. And otherwise she hadn't told her, but Jane would never do a thing like that. (at least, she _hoped_ she wouldn't)  
"Today I would like to tell you more about the Whomping Willow," Professor Sprout said, when everyone had settled down, "it was planted here several years ago. I understand that some First Years have tried to come near it..."  
Faith, Hera and Terry exchanged glances and Cassie turned a bright shade of red. A couple of days ago, the four of them didn't have anything to do, so they decided to explore the Hogwarts grounds. Some fifth years had told them about the Whomping Willow; that it was a dangerous three that tried to murder everyone that came near it. Cassie had been skeptical about it; because why would anyone ever plant a murderous tree on the grounds of a school? Or anywhere else, for that matter?  
"If you're so sure," Kevin - Faith's brother who was in his second year at Hogwarts - had said, "why don't you prove it to us? I dare you to walk up to that tree and touch it. If you come back without having been attacked or badly wounded, I'll give you five galleons."  
Cassie had accepted, still not believing any of the horror tales that other classmates told her, about people who's eyes had been poked out or had been eaten alive by the tree.  
She had convinced Terry, Faith and Hera to come with her and see for themselves. "There's nothing wrong with it," she'd assured them, "I've heard about a lot of things in my life, but whomping willows just isn't one of them!"  
But they never made it to the tree. When they were just a few feet away, it went completely insane. They were lucky that they were still far enough to run away without the willow being able to reach them. But; the point had been proven. There was indeed a murderous willow on the grounds of Hogwarts, something that Cassie still didn't get. Maybe Dumbledore hadn't lost his touch after all this years, maybe he never had 'his touch' at all! What mad man would ever allow such a... _thing_ to grow near a school!  
But all the elder students told them that it was their own fault and that they had warned them.  
The adventure, of course, didn't go without a cost: Terry still had a large bruise on her forehead and Hera's arm was sprained, something that made Cassie feel extremely guilty.  
"I've heard that those foolish students have already received their punishment..."  
Faith grumbled. Professor Umbridge had given them a week of detention and they had spent their last few days copying books about Herbology in the library.  
"... But still I would like to pay _some_ attention to it, to prevent it from ever happening again. Our next few lessons, will be about moving plants and trees and the danger about them. And I hope that it will be enough for all of you to never come near such a thing as our Whomping Willow again!"  
"What I want to know is," whispered Hera softly, "why they had planted it there in the first place. But I bet you my pocket money on it, that she won't cover that."  
"I don't care why it's there," Terry said, shuddering at the thought of it, "I just want it gone!"

~*~

On Saturday morning, it was clear that the summer had ended and the fall had started again; it had been raining ever since Friday evening and it still didn't look like it was going to stop any time soon.  
Cassie was the only one in the Great Hall that morning, except for some teachers. It was just seven o'clock when she got there to eat breakfast. Rain always got her worked up and the sound of the rain ticking against the windows drove her mad.  
Professor Flitwick greeted her excitedly when she walked into the Great Hall. "Hello, miss Avery, isn't it such a lovely day?"  
Those words had made her want to strangle him, rainy days were _never_ lovely days. And anyone who thought otherwise was a complete idiot. But strangling him wouldn't do her any good - she had lost enough housepoints on the whole Willow-adventure already. And she didn't want Ravenclaw to loose the Housecup because of her.  
So she forced a smile; "it just couldn't be better, professor."  
"Now, about what happened last week," he said, his high voice annoying her on such an early hour.  
She rolled her eyes, how many other teachers were going to give her a lecture? Professor Snape had nearly lynched her when he had (as he had called it) 'saved' them from the menacing tree, saying how she could possibly have come up with such a stupid idea, while everyone had told her it was dangerous. Umbridge had thought it her job to yell at them once more because Terry was her niece and she needed to have a good example in her life ("And your mother sure as hell isn't going to give you one," she had growled). Not to mention professor Sprout with her entire lesson in moving plants and trees (the stories that Cassie had heard were enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her life)  
"Umbridge said that she feared that you might have a bad influence on her niece, Terry Umbridge."  
She sighed heavily and wanted to reply, but Flitwick swiftly continued; "Don't worry, miss Avery! I don't agree with her. But I would just like to warn you, professor Umbridge isn't someone you want to have against you. So next time, be careful with what you do when you are around her or her niece and stay out of trouble."  
Cassie nodded and when Flitwick turned around to go to the staff table, an owl swooped in and a letter dropped in the middle of her plate. She grinned as she opened it; it was from Mordred.

~*~

Something about his letter worried her, it alarmed her that something with it was wrong.

'_... As I had explained in our last letter, your mother and I met each other in a dangerous time. Love is a strange thing, and indeed it was in this case, as your mother and I were supposed to be enemies, but faith had decided otherwise_.'

How come they were supposed to be enemies? Had he done something wrong? Hadn't they met in the time of He Who Must Not Be Named?

'_I will not go into this any further. Especially not this early.  
_'_As for how I am doing - right now everything is better than it has been for a very long while_._ I am married to a beautiful woman named Hannah, whom you will meet if you were to visit me during the holidays. I am sure you will like her. I do not have any other children, for several reasons, but they are of no real importance to you.  
_'_I love my job and I am pretty good at it too. I hope one day, you and your sister will follow in my footsteps, but you will learn more of this over time_.'

Another thing that disturbed her. Why couldn't he just say what his profession was? If it truly was that wonderful... but maybe he just wanted to keep it secret for a while. Maybe he was a spy or something and it would've been fatal for him if the letter had landed in the wrong hands.  
Yeah. He probably was a spy and the _best_ spy in entire Great Britain - no, in the entire world! And all the evil wizards and witches feared him. He was like... James Bond with a broomstick instead of the car. (Cassie's mother had a lot of Muggles among her friends, so Cassie knew a great deal about the way Muggles lived their lives and was highly fascinated by movies.)

'_I don't expect you not to tell anyone that I have sought contact with you, but don't tell to many people. You can tell the closest of your friends and even your mother when you think the time is right, because I do not wish for you to lie against your mother over me. But don't tell anyone else. Let's keep it our little secret for a while.  
_'_I love you_

'_Your father, Mordred Avery_.'

Our little secret, it sounded appealing to her. She grinned as she lay on her bed, rereading the letter for the thousandth time and closed her eyes when she had finished. She could see Mordred, flying on his broomstick somewhere in a far-off-country, chasing an ugly looking, evil wizard around who was trying to take over the world.  
And with this image, she fell asleep.

~*~

**A/N**: I'm a bit late with updating (once again), so I won't say when the next chapter will be ready. It might take a while, because in two weeks, School Examinations start (or as they call it here the SE's), and I will also be very busy with a project of school. But since I've got a week off (just one more day of school and than I'm finally free for nine days), I might be able to finish the fifth chapter pretty soon. But I won't make any promises.


	5. Seven days with Caitlin

**Chapter 5 - Seven Days With Caitlin**

"Now, now, everyone settle down!" Flitwick squeaked, standing on his pile of books to make himself taller. "This is a very important moment!"  
Cassie mumbled something, this was pure humiliation! Why did Flitwick choose her to start first?  
"Have you practiced all your spells?" Flitwick asked her, she nodded. "Well, than there shouldn't be a problem. It will be fine, just relax. Remember what I told you the other day! Spells only work..."  
"... when the witch or wizard truly beliefs that it works and that they can perform it," Cassie finished his sentence, Flitwick had told her this a million times, but it hardly ever worked.  
"You may begin," he said, when everyone had finally calmed down.  
Cassie had been working hard on her spells for the past three weeks ever since Flitwick had announced that today everyone had to show their spells in front of the entire class. She got so nervous about it, that she forgot all about the letter that Mordred had send her and she still had to write him back.  
She raised her wand a little and cleared her throat. "_Lumos_!"  
She gasped when the spell suddenly worked and a light was illuminating from the tip of her wand.  
"Very good, miss Avery! Well done," Flitwick said excitedly. "Continue, please..."  
"_Nox_," she said, feeling a lot more confident than a few minutes ago, and the spell miraculously worked again. Just one more spell to go and she would be free for another month. She pointed at the fireplace, "_Incendio_." The wood in the fireplace caught fire and Flitwick clapped. "You did a very good job, miss Avery. I am proud of you."  
Yes well, three weeks of studying kind of deserved this result, didn't it?  
The professor muttered something and the fire went out. Cassie walked to her seat and sat down next to Terry, who put an arm around her, "I knew you could do it. You've been worrying over nothing."  
"This is just luck," Cassie corrected her, "last night none of the spells would work."  
"That was just because you were nervous," Terry said, "and this wasn't luck, this was _you_. And you did great."

~*~

"You just wrote him back?" Jane said, her eyes wide, "why did you wait this long? He wrote you three weeks ago!"  
"I was busy," Cassie said defensively, not wanting her sister to get angry with her.  
Jane just rolled her eyes, "you are insane. I mean; how would it make _you_ feel if he didn't write you for three weeks?"  
"He didn't write me for eleven years," Cassie shot back, "That's a whole lot longer than 21 days. But I have to go, they're waiting for me at the Library."  
"Who's waiting for you?"  
"You know, Terry, Hera and Faith... they asked for my help with potions. We have to write..."  
"Never mind," Jane interrupted. "I've heard enough. I'll see you tomorrow." She kissed her sister on the cheek and got off her chair. They had been sitting in the Great Hall; when you're not in the same house, there are only a few places you can go to when it's raining outside to sit down and talk with each other.  
The Great Hall wasn't exactly the perfect place, it always looked gloomy and depressing when no one was there (at least to Cassie it did), but it was better than the library. There Madame Pince was constantly making sure that you were working and not just talking and relaxing.  
"By the way, shouldn't you report yourself to Umbridge?" Jane asked mockingly. Cassie raised her eyebrows. "Didn't read her educational decree number twenty-something? She put it on the message boards about a week ago. I should check it out if I were you, I wouldn't want you to get into trouble."  
After that she left.

~*~

When Cassie found the others in the library, she immediately told them about what she had just heard, hoping that they would have some more news about the 'Educational Decree' her sister had been talking about. But none of them knew anything about it.  
"I've never looked at the message board before," Faith said, "It's not like First years can ever do anything fun anyway. There are always only messages for those in their third year and up."  
"An Educational Decree?" Terry asked, frowning, "not that I have heard of. but I haven't talked to her lately, she's angry with me."  
"Angry with _you_?" Cassie said, "why would she be angry with you?"  
"Remember that I told you that I was going to write my grandmother about Aunt Dolores getting High Inquisitor?"  
Cassie nodded.  
"Well, grandmother decided to send her a Howler. And now she's angry with me because she says that I've betrayed her and everything and that she thought that she could trust me. But it's so stupid; because grandmother could've found out about it just by reading the Daily Prophet, how was I supposed to know it was some kind of big secret." Terry's voice grew louder while she was speaking. Immediately Madame Pince came to action, she rushed to their table and glared at them. "Keep your voices down! People are trying to work here. If I hear you lot one more time, I will be forced to remove you from the library." After that she turned around to address another group of students who had been talking to loudly.  
"Anyway, Jane said that we might want to take a look at it, because otherwise we might get in trouble or something," Cassie said, feeling slightly confused. "It's probably no big deal, but knowing how your aunt feels about you right now and what she thinks about _me_, we might want to take a look at it now. I don't want her to give her any reason to think even less of me, or to take off any more housepoints."  
"I'll go," Hera offered, "than you guys can start on Potions."

~*~

A few minutes later, Faith returned, clutching a piece of parchment in her hand.  
"Your Aunt," she said to Terry when she reached their table, "is insane! Read this!"  
She shoved it into Terry's hands who read aloud:

"_By Order of the High Inquisitor of Hogwarts  
All students, organizations, societies, teams, groups and clubs are henceforth disbanded.  
An organization, society, team, group or club is hereby defined as a regular meeting of three or more students. Permission to re-form may be sought from the High Inquisitor - Professor Umbridge.  
No student organization, society, team, group or club may exist without the knowledge and approval of the High Inquisitor. Any student found to have formed, or to belong to, an organization, society, team, group or club that has not been improved by the High Inquisitor, will be expelled.  
The above is in accordance with Educational Decree number Twenty-four_."

For a moment all four of them exchanged glances.  
"So..." Faith said eventually, "that includes us, doesn't it? We're a group of four students who meet regularly."  
"Oh come on," Terry protested, "we're friends. That doesn't count - right?"  
Another silence fell. None of them felt like going to Umbridge to ask her permission if they could still see each other. "Well," Hera said hesitantly, "I guess it does count. At least in the eyes of Umbridge. We could ignore it, but that would risk expelling us. And what are we afraid of? Why would she disapprove of us? We haven't done anything wrong, right?"  
Cassie wasn't so sure about that - didn't professor Flitwick say last week that Umbridge thought that she had a bad influence on Terry? This would be the perfect opportunity to forbid Cassie and Terry to remain friends. And the fact that Terry and Umbridge were now mad at each other didn't help much either.  
"I say we go to Umbridge," Faith said. Everyone looked surprised at her and she blushed, "what? So I don't agree with Umbridge - I don't want her to ruin my future. I don't want to be expelled. We go to her now, explain our situation and the problem is solved. If she says that we can't see each other anymore, which I highly doubt, than we'll just meet in the Common Room, she can't get in there because she doesn't have the password. But at least we asked her - didn't we? It's a win-win-situation."  
"OK," Cassie agreed. "We'll go to Umbridge."

~*~

Umbridge looked at them, her eyes narrow. "I put this up the message board a week ago - that means you have been meeting illegally for one week."  
"We didn't know about it, professor," Hera said, smiling innocently. "We just found out and we immediately came to you. We did not mean to break any rules."  
"Especially as Ravenclaws I would have thought that you would look on the board every now and than," Umbridge said, still not satisfied with Hera's explanation. "It is very important to do so. You can expect some more Educational Decrees and changes on Hogwarts and you need to know about them. I won't be so friendly next time, but I'll let it slip just this once."  
All of them sighed with relief.  
"_But_..."  
Their faces darkened.  
"... I do want you to write 2000 words about '_why I should look on the message board_' and have it finished by next week."  
Well, that was doable. 2000 Words was not _that_ much and she had a week to figure out what to write. Cassie nodded enthusiastically, but she heard Faith softly groan next to her and whisper: "2000 Words? Why not sentence me to death immediately?"  
"If one of you doesn't have it finished by next week," Umbridge continued, a cruel smile on her face, "I will be forced to disapprove of your group. Meanwhile, all of you are not allowed to meet, talk and even _look_ at each other. If I catch any of you doing otherwise, I will be forced to expel you. And that means one-on-one meetings as well!"  
Cassie's mouth fell open. She wasn't allowed to see them for an entire week?

~*~

How could anyone be this boring? All Caitlin could talk about was school, homework, more school and a lot more homework. Didn't she have any other hobby's or something? Cassie missed the others, and especially Terry. She hadn't seen her for four entire days now, and in that time she had mostly spent her time with Caitlin; who didn't seem to have any life outside of school.  
"So," Cassie said, in a strange need for a story about someone's family. "Are your parents wizards?"  
"Yes, both of them." Caitlin nodded, "They're very nice. But you know, in Herbology yesterday..."  
"Please, Caitlin," Cassie suddenly interrupted - she felt like she could take it no more, "I _know_ what happened in Herbology yesterday, I was _there_. Can't you talk about something else? What do you do when you're at home? What do you want to do when you grow up? Do you have any brothers or sisters?"  
Caitlin stared at her, her eyes big. And suddenly she started to cry.  
Cassie sighed heavily, "I'm sorry, Caitlin. I didn't mean to upset you, it's just that you only talk about school and that's just... boring."  
"So you find me boring too?" Caitlin sobbed and only started to cry harder. "Everyone thinks I'm boring, everyone hates me."  
People were beginning to stare.  
"That's not what I meant," Cassie said swiftly, "You're not boring. Well... I don't know if you're boring, because you never tell anything about yourself. It's just school that is boring!"  
"R-really?" Caitlin said, wiping the tears from her face and looking with watery eyes at her.  
"Really," Cassie said, smiling the sweetest smile she could manage at this point.  
"But it was just that yesterday with Herbology..."  
Cassie rolled her eyes. It was just that it was three more days to go, or she would've jumped out of a window.

~*~

"Have you finished it?" Faith whispered. All four of them were lying in their room, tomorrow they would finally be allowed to talk with each other again. And since the clock just struck twelve o'clock they figured that they could start the talking right now.  
"Yeah, I finished it the first day," Cassie said.  
"So how was it with Caitlin?" Hera asked with a grin.  
"Well, she warmed up a little in the end. I know she has a dog named Mr. Browneyes and that she hopes to be a teacher at Hogwarts one day. And I've got my homework finished for the next couple of weeks," Cassie added darkly. "So what did you guys do?"  
"I spent the week with my brother. The most annoying guy that there is," Faith said.  
"Todd," Terry mumbled half-asleep.  
"Daphne, she's funny," Hera said cheerfully.  
"Not thinking about leaving us, are you?" Faith said sharply.  
"No, of course not. But maybe we should think about expanding, you know. Until now, it has always been the four of us. Umbridge kind of forced us to communicate with others, and why stop? Daphne and Amber are so nice and extremely funny. Why not hang out with them as well?"  
"I'm fine with just the four of us," Terry said, yawning loudly.  
"Of course it's fine," Hera said swiftly, "but I think it would be nice if we'd talk to the others some more."  
"I don't mind," Cassie said, as she closed her eyes, ready to go asleep, "but there's no way I'm spending seven days with Caitlin alone again."

~*~

Umbridge looked slightly disappointed when all of them turned in their work on time, but had no choice but to 'approve' of their group. Hera still found it insane that Umbridge had ever needed to approve of their friendship. "She acts like some kind of dictator or something," she said fiercely. Faith was glad to finally have found a soulmate who agreed that Umbridge was the worst witch that had ever existed.  
Terry wasn't too happy about it. "I told you that everyone would realize in a few weeks what it would really mean," she said to Cassie, when they were alone. "And it will get worse. Just a couple of more weeks and than people will _ really_ start to hate her, and blame me for being her niece."  
Cassie told her that in the end everything would turn out to be just fine and that she shouldn't worry, but she wasn't so sure of herself when she said this. What if Umbridge was here to stay? Than she would rather have Dumbledore, whether he was a lunatic or not.

~*~

**A/N**: Just something I wanted to say to Serayane: you asked me why Snape didn't know that Cassie was the daughter of Avery, well, a lot of that will be made clear throughout the following chapters. I don't want to reveal to much about that. Second; there will be more of Snape than you will like later on :).  
Also some of the other characters out of the book will make an entrance (Draco Malfoy for example).  
And thanks to HNH for her lovely review...  
As for the timeline; I'm counting on it that in the fifth year, school once again started on the first of September. That means that in the beginning of the chapter, Cassie is somewhere in the first week of October. But I'm really bad with this sort of things, so please correct me if I'm wrong.


End file.
